Loose leaf filing trays or binders



Nov. 13, 1956 Filed June 28, 1952 F. R. SEWELL.

LOOSE LEAF FILING TRAYS OR BINDERS 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 F Renae/4 E Sam 14:

Nov. 13, 1956 F. R. SEWELL LOOSE LEAF FILING TRAYS OR BINDERS 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed June 28, 1952 United States Patent LOOSE LEAF FILING TRAYS OR BINDERS FrederickRobert Sewell, Beckenham, England, assignor to Percy Jones (Twinlock) Limited, Beckenhem, England Application June 28, 1952, Serial No. 296,112

Claims. Cl. 129-16)- This invention relates to improvements in filing equipment of the kind in which a number of loose sheet-sor cards are held on edge in a tray in positions in which entries thereon may readily and conveniently be consulted and individual sheets or cards removed and replaced when additional entries on such sheets are to be made, the tray having upwardly extending cover members enclosing the assembled sheets Within the tray, so as to enable the filing unit so formed to be stored on shelves or within the drawers of a filing cabinet, as required, when not in use.

The present invention provides an improved construction of filing units of this kind, whereby increased ease of inspection of sheets or cards in the unit is provided, means being incorporated in the unit to prevent overturning of the tray from its normal horizontal position on a supporting surface during consultation of the records contained therein, and improved means being provided for securing the cover members forming part of the tray in closed posit-ion for storage of the unit.

According to the invention, the improved filing unit comprises a rectangular tray, cover members hinged to two opposite edges of the tray, and members rigidly secured to the other opposite edges of the tray, and supporting members pivotally associated with the exterior of the cover members. These supporting members are advantageously also slidably connected to the tray in a plane below that occupied by the lower longitudinal edges of sheets or cards supported upon the tray.

Stop means are provided for limiting the outward movement on their hinges of the cover members of the tray, and latching hasps or like means are provided whereby the two cover members may be retained in their closed positions parallel to one another.

The invention may be carried into practice, in one illustrative embodiment thereof, as shown in the accompanying drawings, it being understood that numerous modifications in construction may be made thereto without departing from theinvention concept. In the said drawings,

Figure l is a side view of a filing unit in accordance with the invention,

Figure 2 is a plan View thereof,

Figures 3 and 4 are detail views hereinafter referred to,

Figure 5 is a central vertical section of the unit shown in Figure 1, in its closed position, and

Figure 6 is a view similar to Figure 5, showing the unit in its opened position.

As shown in the drawings, the improved filing unit comprises a fiat rectangular tray 1 of sheet metal, having secured to its upper surface a sheet or strip 2 of non-slip material such as natural or artificial rubber, or serrated strips whose serrations or ridges extend longitudinally of the back portion of, the filing unit and which are adapted to prevent unintended movement of the edges of sheets or card's, supportedthereon, and to facilitate postn -1 p, ofvthetsaidsheets.

At the longitudinal edges of the tray 1 are hingedly mounted cover members 3 and 4, the dimensions of which are substantially equal to or slightly greater than those of the sheets or cards for use with which the tray 1 is intended. On lateral extensions 5 of the cover members 3 spring catches 6 are provided, which catches are adapted to be engaged by an elongated eye 7 on each of the latching members or hasps 8 hingedly connected at 9 in registering positions on the edges of the other cover member 4. On the outer face of the cover member 4 to which such hasps 8 are hinged, there are provided further spring catches 9 adapted to receive and hold the ends of the hasps 8 when the filing unit is in its opened position.

In a preferred form of spring catch whereby the free edges 7 of the latching hasps 8 are held in engagement with the edges of cover member 3, a pair of rods 10 of flattened S-shape ('Figure 3) are held in a casing 11 secured to the outer face of the cover member 3, a part of each such rod extending through a slot formed in the casing, in a direction parallel to the vertical edge of the cover member 3 and towards the other rod of the pair, thus providing two opposed rounded ends 12 of the S-shaped rods located outside the casing 11 and held in latching positions by short helical compression springs 13 engaging an interior wall of the casing 11 and the connecting portions 12 of the S-shaped rods 10 within said casing. A fiat operating member 14 is slidably mounted within the casing 11, its movement being limited by stops or abutments (not shown), one end of the operating member 14 extending outwardly through a slot in the easing 11 and being provided with a finger-piece 15, and the other end having a tapered portion 16 engaging between the inner opposed connecting portions 12 of the two S- shaped rods 10 so as to force said rods apart against the action of the springs 13 until the inner opposed connecting portions 12 ends of the rods 10 contact the parallel edges of the operating member 14, thus retaining the opposed rounded ends 12 of the S-shaped rods 10 in spaced or open position, the point of the tapered end 16 of the operating member 14 extending outwardly beyond the edge of the cover member 3 through a further slot in the casing.

When the latching hasp 8 hinged to the other cover member 4 is swung to its closing position, the elongated eye 7 on the free end thereof engages the pointed end of the catch-operating member 14 and returns such end within the casing 11, thus permit-ting the springs 13 within the casing 11 to draw together the connecting portions 12 of the rods 10 within said casing, consequently movmg towards one another the ends 12 of the S-shaped rods 10 outside the casing, such ends 12 engaging in the eye 7 on the hasp 8 to retain said hasp in its closed position.

The spring catches 9 on the outer surface of the cover member 4 to which the hasps 8 are hinged may consist simply of two spring-pressed studs 17 (see Fig. 4), slidably movable in a suitable fitting, as shown, each stud 17 engaging in one end of the eye 7 of the hasp 8 when the latter is swung to its fully opened position as shown in dotted lines in Fig. 2.

When the cover members 3 and 4 of the tray are released from engagement with the latching hasps 8, and moved apart to permit ready reference to any of the sheets or cards disposed within the unit, supporting members are provided to prevent accidental overturning of the tray, as might occur, for example, if the whole pack of sheets or cards forming the contents of the tray were moved from one cover member to the other in order to consult the last sheet in the pack. For this purpose, L-shaped supporting members are provided, formed from sheet metal, each such supporting member having one leg 18 slidably engaged in a guideway 20 (see Fig. 1) provided therefor either within the thickness of the tray itself, or upon the 7 to the adjacent cover members and at its other end to the leg 19 of the supporting member, to assist in returning the legs 18 within the guideways 20, when the cover members 3, 4 are moved towards each other.

, As the cover members 3, 4 of the tray 1 are moved apart, they press against the upper ends of the legs 19 of the supporting members, the lower legs 18 of said supporting members being caused to slide outwardly from within their guideways 20 on the underface of the tray, the legs 18 and 19 thus providing lateral supporting extensions for the tray whereby accidental overturning thereof is prevented.

The outward movement of the cover members 3 and 4 on their hinges is limited by stops formed by the top edges of the catch plates 21, within which the ends of the vertical legs 19 of the supporting members engage. Additional stop means are advantageously provided by four bellcrank levers 22, two of which are mounted at each end of the tray with one end of each of said levers 22 pivotally connected to the tray or to the rigid end wall 23 of the tray, and at the other end of each of said levers pivotally connected to the end edges of the cover members 3 and 4.

Each such bell-crank lever 22 comprises two arms enclosing an angle greater than ninety degrees by an extent commensurate with the desired maximum outward inclination from the vertical of the cover member to which it is connected, one arm of each of said levers being pivotally connected at its free end to the rigid end wall 23 of the tray and the other arm of such lever being slotted longitudinally adjacent to its free end as indicated by the reference numeral 25, a pin 24 on a lug 24 on the end edge of the adjacent cover member being received in said slot 25. The levers 22 are so disposed that the straight edges of the arms thereof pivoted to the rigid wall 23 of the tray lie against the upper surface of the tray when the cover members have been moved outwardly on their hinges until the pins 24 on lugs 24 on the end edges of the cover members 3 and 4 reach the ends of the slots 25 in the free ends of the other arms of said levers.

The latching hasps 8 hereinabove referred to may advantageously be formed with flaps 26 forming handles whereby the filing unit may be held and lifted when the unit is in its closed position, and is required to be moved to a filing cupboard, cabinet or shelf for storage.

Certain advantages of the improved filing unit of the present invention are attributable to the fact that the latching hasps 8 whereby the cover members are held in closed position are readily held out of the way of the user of the unit when said latching hasps are in their unlatched positions; they also serve as handles whereby the closed filing unit may be carried; and they are preferably located (as shown in the drawings) on the side edges of the cover members adjacent to the free upper edges of such hinged cover members so as to form, in the closed position of the unit, stops preventing sheets or cards disposed within the tray from falling out of the tray if the unit is tilted from its normal vertical position.

Certain further advantages are obtained, by reason of the method of so mounting the supporting members hereinabove described and each comprising arms 18 and 19, that the space required for each filing unit in a cabinet or cupboard is substantially only the space occupied by the tray 1 and its cover members 3 and 4, with the sheets or cards therebetween, as distinct from prior known filing units of this type, where a movable cover member was slidably movable horizontally while in a vertical plane so as to enclose sheets or cards supported on the tray.

It is to be understood that the form of my invention illustrated and described herein is to be taken as a pre- 4 ferred embodiment of the same and that various changes may be made in the shape, size and arrangement of parts without departing from the spirit of my present invention or from the scope of the subjoined claims.

I claim:

1. A filing tray comprising a fiat generally rectangular base plate, a pair of cover members hingedly mounted at their bases on parallel sides of said base plate so as to be movable between a closed positioned in which they extend substantially vertically upwardly and an open position in which they incline outwardly away from the base plate and one another, a pair of abutment members each secured to the outer surface of a respective cover member and each providing both a downwardly and an inwardly facing abutment surface, a pair of support members each slidingly engaging the base plate and each including an upwardly projecting arm having a portion disposed between a cover member and the inwardly facing abutment surface of the abutment member secured thereto and disposed directly below the downwardly facing abutment surface of said abutment member, whereby sliding movement of each of said support members away from and towards the base plate is caused by movement of the corresponding cover member to the open and closed positions respectively by virtue of the couplings established between the said arms of said support members, said inwardly facing abutment surfaces and the outer surfaces of the cover members, and whereby further outward tilting of said cover members is prevented by virtue of the couplings established between said arms and said downwardly facing abutment surfaces.

2. A filing tray as defined in claim 1, including means for detachably securing the cover members in closed position when the tray is not in use.

3. A filing tray as defined in claim 1, wherein each support member comprises an L-shaped bracket, one arm of which is slidably mounted on the base plate and the other arm of which extends upwardly along with the outer surface of an adjacent cover member, the upper end of said other arm engaging said downwardly facing abutment surface on said adjacent cover member to prevent further outward tilting of said adjacent cove member. I

4. A filing tray as defined in claim 1 including addi tional means adapted to prevent outward tilting of the cover members beyond their open positions, such means comprising a pair of angle brackets each located adjacent one end ofthe base plate one arm of each bracket being pivotally connected to the base plate be-- References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 476,854 Woodrutf June 14, 1892 1,146,895 Miller July 20, 1915 1,647,655 Ohnstrand Nov. 1, 1927 1,764,264 Jones et al. June 17, 1930 1,981,795 Wood Nov. 20, 1934 2,433,788 Schade Dec. 30, 1947 FOREIGN PATENTS I 750,271 France 1933 France June 24, 1935 

